Take-up mechanism



July 3, 1956 G. F. SWAVELY TAKE-15? MECHANISM Filed June 8, 1955 INVENTOR GUY F. SWAVELY ATTORNEY United diaries TAlKE UP BTECHANISIVI Guy F. Swavely, Lancaster, Pa, assignor to Armstrong Cork Company, Lancaster, lla., a corporation of Penn sylvania Application time s, lass, fierial No. 514,tl41

6 Claims. or. 7 i-2t2.8)

This invention relates to a take-up mechanism. It is concerned more particularly with a take-up device for use on rolls such as the guiding and tensioning rolls over which wire screen cloth pressing belts are trained in the conventional wet press section af a papermaking machine. In this section there are one or more pairs of press rolls between which the wet Web of paper is fed. Generally, bronze wire cloth belts are trained over the press rolls and are held in tension by means of adjustable tension rolls. Thus, the paper web in its passage through this section of the machine is engaged on its opposite faces by the tensioned screen cloth which is driven by the press rolls through frictional engagement therewith.

Mechanism is generally provided for individually adjusting each of the ends of the tensioning roll shaft. Generally, each end of the roll support, commonly the roll shaft or gudgeon, is mounted in a slide which is movable along ways, and an adjusting screw is provided for each slide so that uniform tensioning of the Wire cloth belt may be obtained.

In some instances, it has been found that the Wire cloth belt does not track properly along the press rolls or the tensioning rolls. This difiiculty can be overcome by tilting the tensioning roll on its axis in a plane at an angle to the plane of motion in tensioning adjustment. Frequently the tensioning adjustment may be made by movement of the tensioning roll in a direction along a horizontal plane and the tracking adjustment may be made by tilting the roll axis in a vertical plane, for example. Generally, only a slight tilting of the axis is necessary in order to bring the belt into proper tracking relationship. l-leretofore, this has been accomplished primarily by shimming up one of the roll shaft hearings or roll shaft supports to obtain satisfactory tracking. This is a time-consuming and generally unsatisfactory method of dealing with the problem.

An object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement for conveniently and accurately adjusting the axial relationship of a roll with respect to a member to be operated in conjunction therewith such, for example, as the position of a tension roll and a wire screen cloth belt.

Another object of the invention is to provide for axial tilting of a roll While preventing any substantial lateral or axial movement of the roll.

A further object of the invention is to provide for axial tilting of a roll while avoiding the creation of any undue strains within the roll and in its associated supporting shaft, bearings, etc.

Another object of the invention is to provide for both horizontal and vertical adjustment on each end of a roll to take up slack in a wire screen, for instance, and to cause the screen to properly track on the roll.

Other objects of the invention will be obvious from a consideration of the following description of an embodiment of the invention.

In the attached drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a paper machine calender,

:i atent D ice 2 including the take-up mechanism of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the take-up mechanism shown in Figure l; and

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the take-up mechanism shown in Figure 2, partially broken away.

Referring first to Figure 1, there is shown a wet press section 2 of a papermaking machine of conventional construction. It includes press rolls 3 and d mounted in bearing blocks 5 and 6, respectively. The roll 4 is adjustable vertically by means of a mechanism 7 including a screw 8 which is attached to the bearing block 6.

There are two wire screen cloth belts 9 and 1% which are trained over the press rolls 3 and 4 respectively, and over adjusting rolls l1 and 12.

The rolls 11 and 12 are each shown as provided with the take-up mechanism of the present invention.

As illustrated in Figure 2, where the roll 11 and its adjusting mechanism are shown, the roll is mounted for rotation about a shaft 13, being supported thereon by ball bearings 14 and 15. The roll 11 may be held against movement axially along the shaft 13 in any conventional manner. The construction of the roll and the bearing arrangement may be varied, since they are not critical to the operation of the take-up mechanism.

The shaft 13 is preferably provided with fiat surfaces at its ends as indicated at 16 and T7, and each end is provided with a threaded opening which receives a threaded adjusting screw. As shown at 13 and l? of Figure 2, the adjusting screw may be in the form of a hexagonal head bolt.

Since the take-up mechanism is similar on each side of the roll, only one unit will be described. A yoke 20 is provided through which the adjusting screw l8 passes, slotted openings indicated at 21 and 22 being provided in the yoke to permit limited tilting movement of the adjusting screw within the confines of the slots. The slots are so dimensioned with respect to the adjusting screw diameter that there will be substantially no horizontal movement of the adjusting screw, only tilting movement, as will be more fully explained. A knurled hand wheel 23 is threaded onto the adjusting screw 18, and it is drawn down until the lower surface 24 thereof and a washer 25 disposed in engagement with the head of the adjusting screw 18 lie in firm but sliding engagement with arcuate surfaces 26 and 27 formed on the arms of the yoke 20, the arcs being struck from a center indicated at 28, about midway between the arm center. When the adjusting hand wheel 23 has been so positioned, a pin, set screw, or other locking device 29 is inserted to secure the members in their fixed positions.

The end 30 of the flat portion 16 of the shaft 13 is provided with a curved or rounded surface which lies in en gagement with the inner surface 31 of the yoke 20. This permits tilting movement of the shaft 13 to be effected without binding and without the creation of objectionable stresses in the shaft. The interengagernent between surfaces 30 and 31 also limits any axial movement of the shaft and roll.

A stub shaft 32 is welded or otherwise aflixed to the yoke 20 and is received within a housing 33 and secured therein against rotation by a pin, set screw, or other fastening device34.

As shown in Figure 2, the axis of the roll 11 is substan tially horizontal with the fiat portions to and 17 of the shaft 13 disposed about midway between the arms of the respective yokes 20. When it is desired to tilt the roll 11 on its axis, one or the other of the hand wheels 23 is rotated in the appropriate direction. It will be assumed that the hand wheel 23 for adjusting the end 16 of the shaft 13 is turned. This causes the shaft 13 to move along the length of the adjusting screw 18; and since the opposite end of the shaft 13 is fixed against vertical motion, a tilting action of the shaft occurs. As this action is effected, both of the adjusting screws 18 and 19 tilt within the slotted openings provided in the arms of their supporting yokes, the washers and the heads 24 of the ad justing hand wheels sliding along the arcuate surfaces 26 and 27 provided on the arms of the yokes. Free tilting motion is possible because of the arcuate surfaces 30 provided on the ends of the shaft 13.

It will be clear that, if it is desired to change the vertical position of the roll without altering its axial position, both of the hand wheels 23 may be turned to effect a uniform raising or lowering of the roll.

While it is possible to obtain the desired tilting action by providing for vertical adjustment of each of the ends of the shaft 13, it is obvious that one end may be held in fixed vertical position but free for tilting motion and all of the adjustment may be effected at the opposite end. However, for convenience in manipulation and to permit uniform vertical adjustment, it is preferred to have similar units on each end of the shaft, as shown in Figure 2.

Preferably, the housings 33 are mounted for horizontal adjustment so as to provide for take-up in the tensioning of the wire cloth belt by the same unit. Such an arrangement is shown in Figure 3. It includes a channel member 35 which is fixed between a pair of brackets 36 and 37 which are mounted on the frame 38 of the machine. Each housing 33 is mounted over a channel 35 for sliding motion thereon. This motion may be effected through an adjusting lead screw 39 mounted in the brackets 36 and 37 and rotatable by a hand wheel 40. An internally threaded boss 41 is provided on the housing 33 and receives the lead screw 39 therein. Upon rotation of the lead screw 39, the housing 33 is caused to move along the channel 35 to effect the necessary horizontal adjustment of the roll 11. As shown in Figure 2, similar units for horizontal adjustment are provided on each end of the roll supporting mechanism.

While the type of horizontal adjustment shown in the drawing is preferred, other types of adjustment familiar to those in the art may be substituted therefor.

I claim:

1. An adjustable take-up device comprising a yoke, a holder for said yoke, means for securing said yoke and said holder together, a threaded member passing through openings provided in the arms of the yoke and free for limited tilting movement with respect thereto within the confines of said openings, abutment members on said threaded member engageable with said yoke for limiting axial movement of said threaded member, a support for a member to be adjusted, said support having a threaded opening therein into which said threaded member is received, means for rotating said threaded member to impart motion to said support and tilting of said threaded member withinthe confines of said openings, and means. on said support engageable with said yoke for limiting lateral movement of said support.

2. An adjustable take-up device comprising a yoke, a holder for said yoke, means for securing said yoke and said holder together, a threaded member passing through openings provided in the arms of said yoke and free for limited tilting movement with respect thereto within the confines of said openings, arcuate guiding surfaces on said arms, means provided on said threaded member and engageable with said arcuate surfaces on said arms for guiding said threaded member during its tilting movement and for limiting axial movement of said threaded member, a support for a member to be adjusted, said support having a threaded opening therein into which said threaded member is received, means disposed at a location remote from said threaded opening for securing said support for a tilting motion, and means for rotating said threaded member to impart motion to said support and tilting of said threaded member within the confines of said openings.

3. An adjustable take-up device comprising a pair of housings mounted for adjusting movement in a common plane, a yoke received in each of said housings and movable therewith, a support for a member to be adjusted, means for securing one end of said support to one of said yokes for tilting movement in a plane at an angle to the plane of movement of said housings, a threaded member passing through openings provided in the arms of the other yoke and free for limited tilting movement with respect thereto, said threaded member being received within a threaded opening provided on the other end of said support, abutment members on said threaded member engageable with said yoke for limiting axial movement of said threaded member, and means through which rotation may be imparted to said threaded member to tilt said support.

4. An adjustable take-up device comprising a yoke, an adjusting screw passing through openings provided in the arms of said yoke and free for limited tilting movement with respect thereto within the confines of said openings, abutment members on said screw engageable with said yoke for limiting axial movement of said screw, 2. roll supportreceived on said adjusting screw and movable along the axis of said adjusting screw upon rotation thereof, a roll carried by said support, and means on said yoke and roll support limiting lateral movement of said roll support and guiding said adjusting screw in its tilting motion in a plane substantially parallel to the axis of said roll, said adjusting screw engaging the walls of said openings in said arms during tilting motion.

5. An adjustable take-up device comprising the combination of claim 4 in which said openings are slots and extend in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of said roll and in which similar yoke, adjusting screw, and roll support members are provided for each end of the roll.

6. An adjustable take-up device for a roll comprising a pair of housings, means for individually adjusting the position of said housings by movement along a substantially horizontal plane, a pair of yokes attached to said housings, an adjusting screw received in each of said yokes and each screw disposed with its axis in a plane disposed at an angle to the plane of movement of said housings, abutment members on each of said adjusting screws engageable with the arms of said yokes for limiting axial movement of said adjusting screws, roll-supporting means having threaded end portions received on said adjusting screws and each being movable in a substantially vertical plane along the axis of said adjusting screw upon which it is received upon rotation of said adjusting screw, and a rollcarried by said roll-supporting means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 525,319 Geyer Aug. 28, 1894 2,514,293 Rumsey July 4, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,092,166 France Nov. 3,.1954 

